Automatic video and dense image-based geographic information matching and browsing

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems permit automatic matching of videos with images from dense image-based geographic information systems. In some embodiments, video data including image frames is accessed. The video data may be segmented to determine a representative image frame of a segment of the video data. Data representing information from the representative image frame may be automatically compared with data representing information from a plurality of image frames of an image-based geographic information data system. Such a comparison may, for example, involve a search for a best match between geometric features, histograms, color data, texture data, etc. of the compared images. Based on the automatic comparing, an association between the video and one or more images of the image-based geographic information data system may be generated. The association may represent a geographic correlation between selected images of the system and the video data.

BACKGROUND OF THE TECHNOLOGY

A geographic information system (GIS) maintains data in a manner that islinked to geographical location information. Typically, such a systemcan provide an interface for a display of the included geographicinformation. For example, consider the Google Street View feature ofGoogle Maps and Google Earth. Google Street View can display photoimages that present panoramic street level views based on theirassociation with particular geographic locations. The photo images ofstreet level views may be accessed and displayed on a client computerfrom the Internet by searching particular addresses or geographiclocations in a user interface of a web browser on the Google Maps orGoogle Earth website and by selecting a particular area within a mapthat is displayed in response to a search request. In this regard, theGIS can associate positioning information, such as street addresses withimages of the GIS.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present technology is illustrated by way of example, and not by wayof limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in whichlike reference numerals refer to similar elements including:

FIG. 1 is a conceptual illustration of an embodiment for associatingvideo data with image-based geographic information systems of thepresent technology;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for an example algorithm for generatingassociations between video data and image-based geographic informationsystems;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of an example table of associations that maybe utilized in some embodiments for linking videos with images ofimage-based geographic information systems;

FIG. 4 is an example system diagram with suitable components forimplementing a generation of associations between videos and images ofimage-based geographic information systems in an embodiment of thepresent technology;

FIG. 5 is a network diagram of an embodiment of a system for accessingassociations between videos and images of image-based geographicinformation systems of the present technology; and

FIG. 6 illustrates an example user interface for transitioning a displaybetween images of an image-based geographic information system and alinked video that may be implemented with the present technology.

SUMMARY OF THE TECHNOLOGY

One aspect of the present technology involves methods for processingimage data of a GIS to generate associations with videos based on visualgeographic features common to the image data and video data. An exampleembodiment involves a method for automated processing of image data. Themethod may include accessing video data that includes a plurality ofimage frames. The method may segment the video data to determine arepresentative image frame of a segment of the video data. In themethod, a digital processor may automatically compare data representinginformation from the representative image frame with data representinginformation from a plurality of images of an image-based geographicinformation data structure. Based on the comparing, an association canbe generated between the video data and another image from the imagebased geographic information. In this way, the image from the GIS canhave a geographic correlation with the video data.

In some embodiments of the method, the automatic comparing may involve acomparison of one or more of histogram data, color distribution data,texture distribution data, and geometric feature data determined fromthe representative image frame and determined from an image of theplurality of images. In addition, the generated association may includea link between the second image and the segment of the video data, thelink being accessible with a user interface of the image-basedgeographic information data structure. The method may further involveaccessing of the link to initiate displaying of a frame or search frameof the video data.

In some embodiments of the method, the accessing of the link initiatesdisplaying of the segment of the video data or the video. In stillfurther embodiments, the method may further involve altering a displaycharacteristic of a display image or second image of the image-basedgeographic information data structure to correspond a presentation ofthe display image with a presentation of the displayed frame of thevideo data. In some embodiments, the altering of the displaycharacteristic may be one or more of stretching, cropping, zooming,rotating, and shrinking at least a portion of the display image orsecond image. In some embodiments, the association may be a link betweenthe second image and the segment of the video data where the link can beaccessed with a user interface of a video player application to displaythe segment of the video.

In some embodiments, the plurality of image frames of the image-basedgeographic information data structure that are compared in theautomatically comparing process may comprise a reduced candidate imageset of the image-based geographic information data structure. In such acase, the reduced candidate image set can be formed or selected bycomparing first positioning information associated with the video datawith second positioning information associated with a plurality ofimages of an image-based geographic information data structure.

These and other features of the method may be embodied in whole or inpart in a machine readable medium as processor control instructions tocontrol a processor of a processing device or computer as discussed inmore detail herein.

Further embodiments and features of the technology will be apparent fromthe following detailed disclosure, abstract, drawings and the claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In one aspect, the present technology involves methods for processingimage data of a GIS to automate generating of associations between theimage data and videos based on visual geographic features that may becommon to the image data and the video data. Thus, the technology willinvolve a computer implemented method for automated processing of imagedata. Video data may be accessed where the video data includes aplurality of image frames. The video data may be segmented to determinea representative image frame (e.g., a “first” image frame) of a segmentof the video data. A digital processor may automatically compare datarepresenting information from the representative image frame with datarepresenting information from a plurality of images of an image-basedgeographic information data structure. Based on the comparing, anassociation can be generated between the video data and another image or“second” image from the image based geographic information. In this way,the “second” image can have a geographic correlation with the video dataand the video may be displayed or launched based its association with animage from the GIS.

An example implementation of the present technology for generatingassociations between videos and images of a GIS for display with the GISis illustrated in FIG. 1. Videos 102A, 102B, 102C, 102D, 102E each havea plurality of different image frames 104 to form the video. Typically,the image frames of the videos may contain geographic visual information108 that depicts geographic locations. For example, the videos mayinclude a home owner's or realtor's video of a property being offeredfor sale or a video made of geographic locations or attractions by atourist at one or more vacation destinations. These videos may be storedas digital video files in any suitable format such as an MPEG file orsimilar, for example. The present technology links the geographicalvisual information of these video files with geographic visualinformation of an image-based geographic information system (GIS) 110.

In this regard, the GIS will typically include different images 112 suchas digital photographs in any suitable image data file format (e.g.,Bitmap, JPEG, etc.). These images may be linked to the positioninginformation of the GIS in a database or similar data storage structure.For example, filenames of images of a database may be linked orassociated with street addresses, global positioning satellitecoordinates, or any other data for specifying geographic location. Likethe videos, each image 112, 112A, 112B, 112C, 112D may includegeographic visual information 114 that depicts geographic locations.

In embodiments of the present technology, links between images of theGIS and the videos are generated with an automated comparison of datafrom these items. Such a comparison process will typically be based on asearch frame from a video. For example, a video file 102A for which ageographic association with images of the GIS is desired, may be dividedinto a segment 105 of image frames in an optional segmenting process.The segmenting process can select a group of successive frames with abeginning frame and ending frame that form a discrete shot within thevideo. For example, a beginning and end for each segment may bedetermined by analysis of pixel information from successive frames ofthe video for significant changes in visual information to determinewhether two shots or sequences of frames are spatially and/or temporallywell separated. Such a segmenting process may be performed byconventional shot boundary or transition detection methods. For example,such a process may detect significant color or lighting changes (e.g.,fade in or fade out), abrupt motion changes (e.g., movement of thecamera) etc. For example, a time series of discontinuity feature values(e.g., edge change ratios) may be calculated to measure dissimilaritybetween successive frames. Such changes may also be detected fromchanges in histogram data (e.g., color histograms) from successiveframes that exceed suitable thresholds (e.g., a histogram distancefunction). Still further embodiments may utilize geometry-basedsegmentation. For example, one or more geometric patterns may bedetected in a frame and neighboring frames may be determined to be partof the segment if the neighboring frames include pixel data attributableto the detected geometric pattern(s).

Then, from the frames of a segment or each segment from the video, asearch image frame 106 may be selected. In other words, if multiplesegments of the video are to be utilized, a video may have multiplerepresentative images or search images for comparison with images of theGIS. Thus, a search image frame may be selected to be a representativeframe of the remaining frames of a segment. For example, a middle frame,beginning frame or ending frame may serve as a search frame for theassociation generation process. In some embodiments, the search frame ofa segment may be selected based on its distance (e.g., sequential framecount) if it exceeds a threshold (e.g., number of frames) from aselected search frame from a preceding segment. In other embodiments,the search frame of a segment may simply be selected randomly from thesegment.

Alternatively, one or more search frames may be selected without asegmenting process from each video file either randomly or each frame ofthe video may successively serve as a search frame.

The comparison process with data from each determined search frame 106will also utilize data from candidate images 112A, 112B, 112C, 112Dselected from the images of the GIS 110. While this comparison processfor each search image 106 may involve data from each image of the GIS110, given processing limitations and the potential large number ofimages in highly dense image-based GIS, the potential group of candidateimages for the comparison process of each search image frame may beimplemented in a more focused process to improve efficiency. Forexample, the comparison process for each search frame may be limited orreduced to some subset of all of the images of the GIS 110. For example,a subset of images may be determined based on a concurrency or overlapbetween positioning information associated with particular images of theGIS and positioning information that may be associated with the video ofa given search frame. For example, if the video is associated or taggedwith any one or more of a particular street address, town, state, GPScoordinates, longitude and latitude, etc., this data may be compared fora geographic proximity concurrence or equality with similar data of theGIS. With this analysis, a reduced subset of images from the GIS may beselected for comparison as a function of positioning information.

Thereafter, an automatic comparison process 116 may implement acomparison between data from each search frame 106 and data from each ofthe images from a group of candidate images 112A, 112B, 112C, 112D ofthe GIS, which may be the reduced subset, to find a suitable match orbest match. The goal of the comparison process is to find a goodcorrelation between the visual features of the search frame with thevisual features of at least one candidate frame such that a visualgeographic feature of the video corresponds to a visual geographicfeature of a selected candidate image. For example, the process mayresult in locating a candidate image of the GIS with a building or aparticular view of the building that is also located in the search imagefrom the video. The compared data of this process will typically bebased on the pixel information of both the search image and a candidateimage. One suitable comparison process may involve the matching processdisclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/431,045 filed on Apr.28, 2009, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein bycross-reference. By way of further example, a scale-invariant featuretransform (SIFT) analysis between the search image frame and eachcandidate image may be performed. A best match may be determined basedon the score of each image pair analysis. A best match score may befurther or alternatively based on a correlation between other imageinformation for the search image frame and each candidate frame such asdifferences or similarities in color histogram data, texture data,and/or geometric features determined by edge detection or otherconventional image analysis methods.

Upon determination of a suitable or best match between the search frameand a candidate image, an association 118 may be generated for the GISto store the relationship determined by the comparison process. Asdiscussed in more detail herein with regard to FIG. 3, the associationprovides a data link between the candidate image and any one or more ofthe video, search frame and/or the determined video segment from whichthe search frame belongs.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing steps for an example embodiment of thismethodology for generating associations between videos and images of aGIS of the technology. In 210, video data having multiple video framesis accessed. Optionally in 212, the video data is segmented to determinea representative image or search image of at least one segment of thevideo data. In 214, data representing information from therepresentative image or search image is automatically compared, such asby a computer and/or signal processor, with corresponding datarepresenting information from images from an image-based GIS. In 216,based on this comparing, an association or link is generated between thevideo data and another image from the image-based GIS where this secondimage has a geographic correlation with the video data.

In a case where a GIS utilizes a database of images, a table may becreated to maintain a data relationship or association between the videoand the matched image of the GIS. For example, embodiments of thetechnology may generate a table entry to a database or other datastructure to store or record the relationship. FIG. 3 illustrates atable with examples of generated associations suitable for associatingthe video data with images of the GIS. In this example, a table, such asa database table, may include GIS Image IDs 302 with identifiers of bestmatch candidate images from a comparison process. The GIS Image IDs areidentifiers that may be, for example, file names, URLs or some otherdata link to the candidate image. The table may even hold the data ofthe image itself. With such a table, the best match candidate images arelinked to video IDs 304, search frame IDs 306, segment IDs 308 and/ordisplay transition data 310. The video IDs 304 are identifiers that maybe, for example, file names, URLs or some other data link to the videodata. The table may even include the video data itself. Thus, with anidentified image that can be located through a search interface of theimage-based GIS, a video may also be accessed by its association withthe image of the GIS.

Moreover, in embodiments of the GIS that maintain either a search frameID 306 (e.g., a frame number) or segment ID 308 (e.g., a frame number ofthe first frame of a segment or a range of frames of the segment), amore efficient link to the geographic features of interest in theassociated video may be implemented. For example, by associating asearch frame identifier with the image of the GIS, a linked presentationof the video (i.e., playing the video file) does not need to beginplaying from the beginning of the video but may start at the searchframe that has the determined visual geographic relation with the imageof the GIS. In such as case, playing of the video via an interface ofthe GIS may be initiated at the search frame. Optionally, with thesegment identifier, playing of the video via an interface of the GIS maybe initiated at the beginning of the video segment of which the searchimage frame is included. In this way, a user of a search interface ofthe GIS need not view the entire video, but may simply see a portion ofthe video containing the determined geographic features that have beenassociated to the images of the GIS in the automated comparison process.

In some embodiments, display transition data 310 may optionally bestored to provide information for improving a display transition betweena presentation of an image of the GIS and a presentation of theassociated video, segment or search frame. For example, displaytransition data may comprise instructions for modifying a presentationof an image of the GIS and/or a frame from the video to give them a moreunified presentation appearance for transition between them. Forexample, such data may be image processing instructions such as data forstretching, cropping, rotating, shifting, color adjustment, etc. ofcertain pixel data of either of the images to unify the appearance ofthe common geographic feature in the frame and image. Optionally, thistransition data may include images that are the result of such imagemodification instructions. Thus, when a user interface of the GISlaunches a presentation of the video from an image of the GIS, such asby a user clicking on an icon or URL presented with the GIS, thetransition instruction data may be utilized to more seamlessly presentthe visual geographic feature of the GIS image to that feature in theassociated frames of the video.

Although not shown, data of the GIS like that of the example table ofFIG. 3 can also typically include positioning information (e.g.geographic location data) for the geographic features of each GIS imageof the table to associate positioning information with the images of theGIS. Thus, this association can also relate the positioning informationto the remaining information of the table.

These automated methodologies may be implemented as hardware and/orsoftware in computerized systems. For example, FIG. 4 shows suitablecomponents of a processing apparatus or computer 406 that may generateand display associations in accordance with the previously describedembodiments. Thus, a suitable computer may be a general or specificpurpose computer with programmable processing control instructions. Inthe example, computer 406 will typically include one or moreprocessor(s) 408 such as a programmable microprocessor, CPU, DSPs, ASICsetc. to execute the algorithms previously discussed. The computer 406may also include a display interface 410 for transferring video or imageoutput signals to a display such as an LCD, CRT, plasma, etc. with aviewing screen to show the images or videos and data of an image-basedGIS. The computer 406 may also include a user input interface 412 topermit a user to control the apparatus such as with a keyboard and/ormouse etc. Similarly, the computer may also optionally include otherinput and output components such as a memory card or memory deviceinterface, magnetic and/or optical drives, communication devices 414(e.g., a modem, wired or wireless networking device, etc.). Thesecomponents may permit input and output of videos, images and GIS dataand other data related to the automatic processes as previouslydiscussed. They may also optionally permit the computer to act as aserver to permit client computers to access the applications and datathat constitute a user interface of a GIS of the present technology.

As illustrated in the embodiment of FIG. 4, the computer 406 cantypically include data and processor control instructions in a memory416 or data storage that control execution of the functions, methods,algorithms and/or routines as described herein. In some embodiments,these processor control instructions may comprise any set ofinstructions to be executed directly (such as machine code) orindirectly (such as scripts) by the processor(s). In that regard, theterms “instructions,” “steps”, “algorithm,” “methods” and “programs” maybe used interchangeably herein. The instructions may be stored in objectcode for direct processing by a processor, or in any other computerlanguage including scripts or collections of independent source codemodules that are interpreted on demand or compiled in advance.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the memory 416 can includeprocessor control instructions 420 for automatically segmenting videos.These control instructions may also control automatically selecting ofsearch frames from videos. Additionally, the memory may include GIS data418 such as the images from an image-based GIS. The memory may alsoinclude video data 421 for the automatic processes described herein.Moreover, the memory may include processor control instructions forcomparing the image information and generating best match associationsas previously discussed. Optionally, these control instructions mayinclude the processing algorithms to derive the information to becompared from the pixel information of the search frames and candidateimages. Moreover, the memory may include the stored associations 424generated by the comparison process.

As further illustrated in the system diagram of FIG. 5, a computerapparatus 502, 504, 506, such as the example of FIG. 4, may beimplemented for a network GIS system 500 for providing access to thevideos using a user interface of a GIS. The data of the GIS and videosmay be accessed by a user via a client apparatus across the network 552,such as with a network browser application and video player of a clientapparatus 555. In such an example, the client apparatus may be a generalor specific purpose computer such as a laptop computer, desktopcomputer, hand-held computer or other programmable processing device,etc. that may be running a browser application and/or a video playerapplication. Typically, such client devices will include processors,memory and input/output devices such as display screens, mouse,keyboard, network communications components etc.

With such a system, a user may gain access to geographically relatedvideos via an image-based GIS that is maintained by the GIS system 500.For example, access to video data is illustrated with the views 660A,660B and 660C of FIG. 6. At view 660A, a user of a client apparatus hasentered a geographic text search (e.g., “Mountainview, Calif.”). Basedon the entered search information a request is sent to the server of theGIS system 500. In response, the client apparatus receives informationto display map details associated with the text search. By then clickingor selecting a particular location on the map with an input device ofthe client computer, a request may be sent to a server of the GIS system200 to request an associated image of the GIS. That image is sent fromthe server and then displayed on the display of the client apparatus. Ifthe user then clicks on the image or other icon indicative of theavailability of an associated video, a request may be sent to a serverof the GIS system. In response to this request a video may be streamedor downloaded to the display on the client apparatus as shown in view660C based on a stored association determined in the comparison processpreviously described. Optionally, prior to this display of the video inview 660C, the client apparatus may then present one or more transitionimages on the client apparatus that are provided by the server asillustrated in view 660B. These transition images can be based on thetransition data of the GIS as previously described.

In the foregoing description and in the accompanying drawings, specificterminology and drawing symbols are set forth to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present technology. In some instances, theterminology and symbols may imply specific details that are not requiredto practice the technology. For example, although the terms “first” and“second” have been used herein, unless otherwise specified, the languageis not intended to provide any specified order, count or identificationof a particular number of a frame, but rather it is merely intended toassist in explaining elements of the technology.

Moreover, although the technology herein has been described withreference to particular embodiments, it is to be understood that theseembodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and applicationsof the technology. It is therefore to be understood that numerousmodifications may be made to the illustrative embodiments and that otherarrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scopeof the technology.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for automated processing of imagedata, comprising: providing video data, the video data comprising aplurality of image frames that depict a geographic location; segmentingthe video data to determine a representative image frame of a segment ofthe video data, wherein beginning and ending frames of the segment ofvideo data are determined by: analyzing the video data to detect one ormore geometric patterns in a given frame, and determining whether thedetected one or more geometric patterns are in a neighboring frame tothe given frame; with a digital processor, automatically comparingvisual data representing information from the representative image framewith visual data representing information from a plurality of images ofan image-based geographic information data structure, wherein theplurality of images are selected based on an overlap between positioninginformation associated with the segment of video data and positioninginformation associated with the plurality of images; based on thecomparing, generating an association between the video data and a secondimage from the image based geographic information data structure, thesecond image having a geographic correlation with the video data, suchthat access to the video data is provided in response to a request forthe second image, wherein the association comprises a link between thesecond image and the segment of the video data, the link beingaccessible with a user interface of the image-based geographicinformation data structure; and receiving a request for the link, and inresponse to the request, initiating playing of the segment of video datathat includes the detected one or more geometric patterns.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the automatic comparing comprises a comparison ofone or more of histogram data, color distribution data, texturedistribution data, and geometric feature data determined from therepresentative image frame and determined from an image of the pluralityof images.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein an accessing of the linkinitiates displaying of a frame of the video data.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein an accessing of the link initiates displaying of thevideo data.
 5. The method of claim 3, further comprising altering adisplay characteristic of a display image of the image-based geographicinformation data structure to correspond a presentation of the displayimage with a presentation of the displayed frame of the video data. 6.The method of claim 5, wherein the display image is the second image. 7.The method of claim 5, wherein the altering of the displaycharacteristic comprises one or more of stretching, cropping, zooming,rotating, and shrinking at least a portion of the display image.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the association comprises a link between thesecond image and the segment of the video data, the link beingaccessible with a user interface of a video player applicationdisplaying the segment of the video.
 9. A non-transitory machinereadable medium having processor control instructions, the processorcontrol instructions to control a processor for processing a video, theprocessor control instructions further comprising: processor controlinstructions to access video data, the video data comprising a pluralityof image frames that depict a geographic location; processor controlinstructions to segment the video data to determine a representativeimage frame of a segment of the video data the video data to determine arepresentative image frame of a segment of the video data, whereinbeginning and ending frames of the segment of video data are determinedby: analyzing the video data to detect one or more geometric patterns ina given frame, and determining whether the detected one or moregeometric patterns are in a neighboring frame to the given frame;processor control instructions to automatically compare visual datarepresenting information from the representative image frame with visualdata representing information from a plurality of images of animage-based geographic information data structure, wherein the pluralityof images are selected based on an overlap between positioninginformation associated with the segment of video data and positioninginformation associated with the plurality of images; processor controlinstructions to generate an association between the video data and asecond image from the plurality of images from the image basedgeographic information data structure based on the comparing, the secondimage having a geographic correlation with the video data, wherein theassociation comprises a link between the second image and the segment ofthe video data, the link being accessible with a user interface of theimage-based geographic information data structure; and processor controlinstructions to provide, based on the association, access to the videodata in response to a request for the second image, wherein theprocessor control instructions include instructions to initiate playingof the segment of video data that includes the detected one or moregeometric patterns.
 10. The machine readable medium of claim 9, whereinthe automatic comparing comprises a comparison of one or more ofhistogram data, color distribution data, texture distribution data, andgeometric feature data determined from the representative image frameand determined from an image of the plurality of image frames.
 11. Themachine readable medium of claim 9, further comprising processor controlinstructions to access the link to initiate displaying of a frame of thevideo data.
 12. The machine readable medium of claim 9, wherein anaccessing of the link initiates displaying of the video data.
 13. Themachine readable medium of claim 11, further comprising processorcontrol instructions to alter a display characteristic of a displayimage of the image-based geographic information data structure tocorrespond a presentation of the display image with a presentation ofthe displayed frame of the video data.
 14. The machine readable mediumof claim 13, wherein the display image is the second image.
 15. Themachine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the altering of the displaycharacteristic comprises one or more of stretching, cropping, zooming,rotating, and shrinking at least a portion of the display image.
 16. Animage-based geographic information system comprising: a database ofdigital images having associations with geographic data, the databasebeing stored on one or more data storage devices; a plurality of digitalvideos being stored on one or more data storage devices; a memorycoupled with a digital processor, the memory having processor controlinstructions, the processor control instructions to control theprocessor for processing the videos and images, the processor controlinstructions further comprising: processor control instructions toaccess video data of the videos, the video data comprising a pluralityof image frames that depict a geographic location; processor controlinstructions to segment the video data to determine a representativeimage frame of a segment of the video data, wherein beginning and endingframes of the segment of video data are determined by: analyzing thevideo data to detect one or more geometric patterns in a given frame,and determining whether the detected one or more geometric patterns arein a neighboring frame to the given frame; processor controlinstructions to automatically compare visual data representinginformation from the representative image frame with visual datarepresenting information from a plurality of images of the database,wherein the plurality of images are selected based on an overlap betweenpositioning information associated with the segment of video data andpositioning information associated with the plurality of images;processor control instructions to generate an association between thevideo data and a second image from the plurality of images from thedatabase based on the comparing, the second image having a geographiccorrelation with the video data, wherein the association comprises alink between the second image and the segment of the video data, thelink being accessible with a user interface of the image-basedgeographic information system and where the user interface comprises aweb page served by a networked server; processor control instructions tostore the generated association in a database; and processor controlinstructions to provide, based on the association, access to the videodata in response to a request for the second image, wherein theprocessor control instructions include instructions to initiate playingof the segment of video data that includes the detected one or moregeometric patterns.
 17. The image-based geographic information system ofclaim 16, wherein the automatic comparing comprises a comparison of oneor more of histogram data, color distribution data, texture distributiondata, and geometric feature data determined from the representativeimage frame and determined from an image of the plurality of imageframes.
 18. The image-based geographic information system of claim 16,further comprising processor control instructions to access the link toinitiate displaying of a frame of the video data.
 19. The image-basedgeographic information system of claim 16, wherein an accessing of thelink initiates displaying of the video data.
 20. The image-basedgeographic information system of claim 18, further comprising processorcontrol instructions to alter a display characteristic of a displayimage of the image-based geographic information data structure tocorrespond a presentation of the display image with a presentation ofthe displayed frame of the video data.
 21. The image-based geographicinformation system of claim 20, wherein the display image is the secondimage.
 22. The image-based geographic information system of claim 20,wherein the altering of the display characteristic comprises one or moreof stretching, cropping, zooming, rotating, and shrinking at least aportion of the display image.
 23. The image-based geographic informationsystem of claim 16, wherein the association comprises a link between thesecond image and the segment of the video data, the link beingaccessible with a user interface of a video player applicationdisplaying the segment of the video.